1 . The Silk Road is the name of different roads that long ago connected Europe, Africa and Asia. People reached these different places along these roads. Scientists believe people began to travel the Silk Road about 3000 years ago. By the time the Chinese silk trade became important in the world, the Silk Road covered almost 6500 kilometers. It spread from Rome to China, which is from the West to the Far East.
Traders travelling along the Silk Road carried silk, of course. They also carried and traded spices (香料), cloth, valuable stones and gold.
There is a famous old story along the old road. It is said that Roman soldiers travelled through central Asia. They started to live somewhere near the ancient Chinese village of Liqian. Sortie of these Romans married local Chinese women and the story of blue-eyed villages of China was started.
During its busiest period, the Silk Road allowed people from many different cultures and countries to meet each other and mix. The Silk Road allowed the sharing of valuable goods and new ideas. These included people and trading goods from the Mediterranean, Persian, Magyar, Armenian, Bactrian, Indian and Chinese areas. All these peoples travelled the Silk Road, and they shared goods, stories, languages, and cultures.
In modern times, the old Silk Road routes (路线) are still used, but now they are crossed by trains instead of camels and horses. There is even a Silk Route Museum in Jiuquan in China. It has over 35,000, objects from all along the Silk Road. In this way, China protects the history of many countries and peoples.
1. How many kilometers did the Silk Road cover?| A．About 3000. | B．Nearly 6500. | C．Almost 2000. | D．Over 35,000. |
| A．Silk. | B．Cloth. | C．Gold. | D．Tea. |
| A．Valuable things could not be sold along the Silk Road. |
| B．The Silk Road allowed people from different countries to mix. |
| C．Ancient Chinese along the Silk Road maybe able to speak different languages. |
| D．The objects in the museum in Jiuquan in China are from all along the Silk Road. |
| A．History and Geography. | B．Sports World. |
| C．Man and Animals. | D．Popular Science. |
1.中国茶文化简介；
2.饮茶的好处；
3.邀请他来中国体验茶文化。
注意：
1.词数80左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3.开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Jack,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
(1)学习资源：报纸、杂志及其他途径；
(2)推荐理由；
(3)表达祝愿。
注意：
(1)词数100左右；
(2)可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
(3)开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Peter,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
4 . While the Memorial Hall of Xu Beihong has been closed in light of the COVID-19 (新冠肺炎), art lovers can take a virtual (虚拟的) tour of the former home (故居) of the renowned Chinese painter who lived from 1895 to 1952.
The hall hosted a live streaming (直播) show on International Museum Day, which falls on May 18 every year, and a docent (讲解员) described for viewers the story behind Xu’s artworks. The show attracted nearly 2.9 million views online within 90 minutes.
Nine other Beijing-based former residences of late celebrities—such as Chinese writer Lu Xun, political persons Soong Ching Ling and Li Dazhao—did the same that day in an effort to connect online viewers with art.
Altogether, the 10 shows were watched by 35.13 million people.
“The number of virtual visitors has exceeded that of physical visitors since last September,” said Li Qing, deputy curator (馆长) of the Memorial Hall of Xu Beihong. Live streaming has an edge. It helps us highlight the most iconic collections and interact with more audiences. It has extended the scope and functions of museums’ public services, he added.
“Amid the virus outbreak, works of literature and art displayed in our museum have played a role in lifting moods and giving people hope,” said Liu Qing, a staff member of Beijing Luxun Museum and the New Culture Movement Memorial of Beijing.
According to officials with the Beijing Information Office and the Beijing Administration of Cultural Heritage, 94 themed events were rolled out on May 18 including 50 online exhibitions and 15 live streaming shows.
They are part of the city government’s plan to build Beijing into a city of museums, according to local officials.
“There are 187 registered museums in Beijing. It is a large number,” said Ling Ming, deputy director of the Beijing Administration of Cultural Heritage. “The plan, on the one hand, can help each of them find out their own characteristics and on the other hand, help build a more diverse museum system.”
Beginning in 2018, the Beijing government created interactive programs and mobile apps and encouraged residents to engage in International Museum Day celebrations online, Ling added.
“This year, cloud computing technology was utilized,” he said.
1. Why has the Memorial Hall of Xu Beihong been closed?| A．Because it has been seriously damaged. |
| B．Because his relatives are strongly against it. |
| C．Because the COVID-19 has broken out. |
| D．Because people don’t like his paintings now. |
| A．Lifting spirit and giving people hope. |
| B．Teaching people more technology. |
| C．Raising more money. |
| D．Connecting the Chinese people with the outside world. |
| A．COVID-19 Broke Out Suddenly |
| B．Internet Technology Offers Closer Look at Fine Art |
| C．A Brief Introduction to Xu Beihong’s Works |
| D．Beijing’s Cultural Plans |
Christmas Day was coming. I was just a kid then, and my big sister told me there was no Santa Claus. I fled to my Grandma because she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told me the truth. Grandma was home, and I told her everything. “No Santa Claus?” She shouted. “Ridiculous! Don’t believe it. “Now, put on your coat, and let’s go.”
“Go where, Grandma?” I asked. “Where” turned out to be Kerby’s General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. “Take this money, and buy something for someone who needs it. I’ll wait for you in the car.” Then she turned and walked out of Kerby’s.
I was only eight years old. I’d often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people competing to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, holding that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy and who to buy it for. I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker, who was a kid with bad breath and messy hair. He sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock’s grade-two class. Bobby Decker didn’t have a coat. I knew that because he never went out for break during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn’t have a cough, and he didn’t have a coat. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat! I chose a red one, which looked really warm, and he would like that.
“Is this a Christmas present for someone?” the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid ten dollars down. “Yes.”
The nice lady smiled at me, put the coat in a bag and wished me a Merry Christmas.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1:
That evening, Grandma helped me wrap (包裹) the coat in Christmas paper.
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Paragraph2:
Grandma and I waited breathlessly for Bobby Decker’s front door to open.
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Last year at Christmas time, my wife, three children and I were on our way from Paris to Nice. Somehow everything went wrong. Our hotels were “tourist traps” and our rented car broke down. On Christmas Eve, when we checked into a dirty hotel in Nice, there was no Christmas spirit in our hearts.
It was raining and cold when we went out to eat. We found a small restaurant poorly decorated for the holiday. Only five tables in the restaurant were taken. There were two German couples, two French families, and an American sailor, by himself. They were eating in stony silence except the sailor. He was writing a letter, and a half-smile lighted his face. In the corner a piano player was listlessly (无精打采地) playing Christmas music.
All of us were interrupted by an old French flower woman through the front door. She had a worn overcoat and her old shoes were wet. Carrying her basket of flowers, she went from one table to another. No one bought any. Exhausted and sad, she sat down at a table.
The sailor finished his meal and got up to leave. Putting on his coat, he walked over to the flower woman’s table.
“Merry Christmas,” he said, smiling and picking out a handful of flowers. “How much are they?”
“Two francs, sir.”
The sailor put a twenty franc note in the woman’s hand.
“I don’t have change, sir,” she said. “I’ll get some from the waiter.”
“No, ma’am,” said the sailor, leaning over and kissing the ancient cheek. “This is my Christmas present for you.”
注意：1．所续写短文的词数应为80左右；
2．续写部分的开头语已为你写好；
Then the sailor headed for our table with the flowers in his hand.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________7 . What are pillows really stuffed with? Not physically, but symbolically? The question occurred to me with the photos in the news and social media from the 50 cities around the world that staged public celebrations for International Pillow Fight Day. Armed with nothing more than bring-our-own sacrificial cushions, strangers struck heavily each other in playful feather from Amsterdam to Atlanta, Warsaw to Washington DC. But why? Is there anything more to this delightful celebration?
As a cultural sign, the pillow is deceptively soft. Since at least the 16th Century, the humble pillow has been given unexpected meanings. The Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu tells a famous story about a wise man who meets a depressed young scholar at an inn and offers him a magic pillow filled with the most vivid dreams of a seemingly more fulfilling life. When the young man awakens to discover that his happy 50-year dream has in fact come and gone in the short space of an afternoon’s nap, our impression of the pillow’s power shifts from wonder to terror.
Subsequent writers have likewise seized upon the pillow. When the 19th-Century English novelist Charlotte Bronte poetically observed “a ruffled (不平的) mind makes a restless pillow”, she didn’t just change the expected order of the adjectives and nouns, but instead she made unclear the boundaries between mind and matter — the thing resting and the thing rested upon.
It’s a trick perhaps Bronte learned from the Renaissance philosopher Montaigne, who once insisted that “ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head”. On Montaigne’s thinking, intelligence and happiness confront each other forever in a pillow fight that only one can win.
With the words of Tang. Bronte, and Montaigne, we can perhaps more easily measure the attraction of the global pillow fight. Like a ritual of release, the annual international pillow fight amounts to a kind of cleansing, a brushing off of daily worries: an emptying of the world’s collective mind. Rather than a launch-pad for weightless rest, the pillow is a symbol of heavy thought: an anchor that drags the world’s soul down — one that must be lightened.
1. The example of Tang Xianzu is used to illustrate that ________.| A．pillows give people satisfactory dreams |
| B．dreams are always wonderful while the real world is cruel |
| C．people’s impression of pillows changes from wonder to terror |
| D．pillows symbolically convey the meaning in contrast to their soft appearance |
| A．wrote poems about pillows |
| B．regarded pillows as reflections of our minds |
| C．shared the same viewpoint as Tang Xianzu on pillows |
| D．was likely to have been influenced by the thoughts of the Renaissance |
| A．pillows give us comfort |
| B．pillows make people more intelligent |
| C．people with too many thoughts have less inner peace |
| D．people can easily fall asleep when they know nothing |
| A．Because it is a ritual release. |
| B．Because it makes life delightful. |
| C．Because it comforts restless minds. |
| D．Because it contains a profound meaning of life. |
8 . Ancient Dunhuang manuscripts housed abroad have been edited and published by the Institute for Overseas National Literature of Northwest Minzu University since 2006. Up till now, 9 manuscripts kept in the British Library and 22 in the National Library of France have been finished, the institute said on April 24, 2018.
Tens of thousands of valuable ancient documents and cultural relics, discovered in the Mogao Grottos in Dunhuang, Gansu province, were scattered overseas in the early 20th century. Dunhuang manuscripts currently in the British Library and the National Library of France are the most important ancient national documents housed abroad.
Co-edited by Institute for Overseas National Literature of Northwest Minzu University, Shanghai Classics Publishing House, the British Library and the National Library of France, these Dunhuang manuscripts return home in publication form for the first time. The institute is also preparing an online database of the manuscripts.
According to Cai Rang, associate director of the institute, Dunhuang manuscripts scattered overseas in Russia, Britain, France and Japan have rich contents, including Buddhism law, social contract, history, linguistics and art. The institute has edited and published 31 manuscripts over the past 13 years, but the work has not been finished. It plans to publish 15 from the British Library and over 30 from the National Library of France all together. In addition, it will also publish manuscripts collected by other countries.
“Some manuscripts are hard to read because of the indecipherable words. So we read carefully and understand them by comparing with Buddhism documents handed down from ancient times,” Cai said. “Next, document classification and compilation will be our key work for further research.”
The work done by the institute is helpful to study the history and culture of Tubo(present-day Tibet) during the period of 8th to 11th century and the history of national cultural exchanges at that time.
1. When did so many valuable ancient documents, discovered in the Mogao Grottos, were scattered overseas?| A．In the late 19th century. | B．In the middle of the 19th century. |
| C．At the beginning of the 19th century. | D．At the beginning of the 20th century. |
| A．By using modern technology. | B．By asking other famous experts. |
| C．By comparing them with Buddhism documents. | D．By studying the history and culture of Tubo. |
| A．the scientific study of language |
| B．the opinion that people have about someone or something |
| C．something that people may have as part of their character |
| D．a system or method for carrying passengers or goods from one place to another |
| A．Dunhuang manuscripts scattered overseas have rich contents. |
| B．China publishes Dunhuang manuscripts housed overseas. |
| C．High value of ancient documents and cultural relics in Mogao Grottos. |
| D．Prepare an online database of Dunhuang manuscripts housed overseas. |
9 . More than 10 million Chinese cultural relics have been lost overseas, lots of which were stolen and illegally shipped out of China during the times of war before 1949. About 1.67 million pieces are housed in no more than 200 museums in 47 countries, which accounts for 10 percent of all lost Chinese cultural relics, and the rest are in the hands of private collectors.
Most of these treasures are owned by museums or private collectors in the United States, Europe, Japan and Southeast Asian countries. There are more than 23,000 pieces in the British Museum, most of which were stolen or bought for pennies more than 100 years ago.
The major method to recover these national treasures was to buy them back. In some cases, private collectors donated the relics to the government. Also, the government can turn to official channels to demand the return of relics.
In 2003, a priceless bronze pig’s head dating from the Qing Dynasty was returned to its home in Beijing after it was removed by the Anglo-French Allied Army over 140 years ago. Macao entrepreneur Stanley Ho donated 6 million yuan to buy it back from a US art collector and then donated it to the Poly Art Museum in Beijing.
Although buying-back is the most feasible way to recover the lost treasures, limited funding is always a big headache.
In recent years, the Chinese government has improved efforts to recover the precious cultural relics lost overseas. It has started a national project on the recovery of the treasures and has set up a database (数据库) collecting relevant information. It has signed several international agreements with many countries on this matter, and is also looking for international cooperation to recover the relics by working closely with several international organizations.
1. What is the passage mainly about?| A．The best way to recover cultural relics. |
| B．The efforts to recover Chinese cultural relics. |
| C．Stanley Ho donated a bronze pig’s head to Beijing. |
| D．Chinese cultural relics were stolen by the Anglo-French Allied Army. |
| A．It was made in the Ming Dynasty. |
| B．It is now in the Poly Art museum in Beijing. |
| C．It was donated by the French government to China. |
| D．It was removed by the Anglo-French Allied Army over 150 years ago. |
| A．Possible. | B．Difficult. | C．Wonderful. | D．Careful. |
| A．China has enough money to buy all the cultural relics back. |
| B．Many countries have returned the lost cultural relics to China for free. |
| C．The Chinese government has done a lot to recover the lost cultural relics. |
| D．China is preparing to set up a database to collect information about the lost cultural relics. |
内容包括：1.举办文化节的目的；
2.文化节的主要活动；
3.预祝活动圆满成功。
注意：1.词数100左右。
2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
